Whether it was the Lord’s Prayer, the Great Commandment, the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus or any number of other passages in Scripture, you cannot deny that your relationship with your neighbor is as important to God as your relationship with him. God is clear that you honor, serve, obey and love him as you do the same with your spouse, children, customers, fellow workers and employer, just to name a few. So take great care with how you treat people.
The Journey // Focus: Leviticus 6:1-7
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Suppose one of you sins against your associate and is unfaithful to the Lord. Suppose you cheat in a deal involving a security deposit, or you steal or commit fraud, or you find lost property and lie about it, or you lie while swearing to tell the truth, or you commit any other such sin. If you have sinned in any of these ways, you are guilty. You must give back whatever you stole, or the money you took by extortion, or the security deposit, or the lost property you found, or anything obtained by swearing falsely. You must make restitution by paying the full price plus an additional 20 percent to the person you have harmed. On the same day you must present a guilt offering. As a guilt offering to the Lord, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value. Through this process, the priest will purify you before the Lord, making you right with him, and you will be forgiven for any of these sins you have committed.”
Did you catch that? If we sin against our neighbor, we have been unfaithful to God! How is it that we miss this when it is the clear teaching of Scripture—both Old Testament and New? Yet so many people who fancy themselves as being close to God are anything but because they allow such poor relationships to exist in their relational sphere.
So let’s be very clear about this since God himself was so clear: nothing is more important to God than shalom within the family of God. We cannot harm a human relationship without damaging our heavenly relationship with the Father of us all. Likewise, if we have been harmed by another yet refuse to forgive, or forgive but somehow convince ourselves that forgiveness does not require us to participate in repairing the relationship, we are guilty of unfaithfulness to God.
Think that is too strong? Well, consider what Jesus said as he taught us how to pray God’s Kingdom and Divine will into our lives. There was an undeniable condition that Jesus added to effectively praying the Lord’s Prayer: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
Whether it was the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) or the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus (John 17:20-25) or a any number of other passages in Scripture, you cannot deny that your relationships with your neighbor (see Luke 10:25-37 for a definition of who your neighbor is) is as important to God as your relationship with him. God’s clear expectation is that you honor, serve, obey and love him as you do the same with your spouse, children, customers, fellow workers and employer, just to name a few.
So my advice to you is, take great care with how you treat people. And as far as it is possible, as much as it depends on you, make and keep things right with everyone. (Romans 12:18) In fact, your acceptable sacrifice of worship to God (Romans 12:1-2) is contingent upon how you live out your faith with people (Romans 12:3-21).
Yeah, it’s a big deal. So get right and stay right with people. Your Father is counting on you!
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